Hall column: Amelia's Mechanics flying high

The first place I heard Amelia’s Mechanics perform was in Jim Avett’s living room during the summer of 2009. It was crowded — the Avett house isn’t very big, and it held the duo consisting of Molly McGinn and Molly Miller, violist Kasey Horton, cellist Diane Reed Cox, a bunch of music instruments, a film crew with all their equipment, a dog, Jim and his wife Susie, and a few people like me who had no especially good reason for being there.

You can see film that was shot there that evening at www.myspace.com/ameliasmechanics.

A lot has happened for Amelia’s Mechanics since then: voted one of the “Best of 2009” on WUNC’s “State of Things” radio show; an acclaimed CD, “North, South, produced by Jim Avett and released in February 2010; steady touring; and recently featured in “Our State” magazine. Their manager/promoter is Neal Davis, who has worked with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and with B.B. King.

I caught up with the two Mollys by phone a few days ago. Phone interviews are hard enough, but the difficulty is compounded when the interviewees both have the same name and similar voices. I told them so.

“I’m the one in the red shirt” said McGinn, laughing. Or maybe it was Miller. I wasn’t sure.

I also asked them if they are considered a duo or a trio, since I see them referred to as both in the media, and wasn’t sure if Kasey Horton was an official band member.

Technically they are a duo. Horton plays with them frequently enough to be perceived as a band member, and she’s pictured on the front of the “North, South” CD. But her college studies and playing with other bands keep her from being a full-fledged Amelia’s Mechanic.

McGinn, Miller and Horton found themselves banding and bonding together immediately after each had gone through a bad break-up. They chose the name Amelia’s Mechanics not just in reference to the famed aviator Amelia Earhart, but as a tribute to all women of courage and “the mechanics underlying life’s triumphs and tragedies.”

Their style combines the best of folk, country, jazz and even classical, almost totally guitar and string driven. Asked if it’s difficult to achieve variety within a narrow range of instruments, McGinn proclaimed that she loves the challenge.

“The best part of creative constraint is that it forces you to think, to explore how to make a variety of sounds to make up for lack of drums, or how to get more bass tones.”

“North, South” was originally planned as a five-song EP, but McGinn says, “In the studio, after we'd play a song for Jim, he'd say, ‘That's good. Play another one.” And before they knew it they had a full-length CD.

The title “North, South” came from the last radioed words of Amelia Earhart: “We are running north and south.” The Amelia theme shows up throughout the album in songs like “Kill Devil Hills,” “Sweet Amelia” and the title song. But the CD also includes songs inspired by Ernest Hemingway, a suicide bomber, a female moonshine runner and a traditional Shaker song.

Jim Avett joins them on the last track, “Preachers and Thieves,” arranged by Avett, written by McGinn, and inspired by a painting of Christ dying between two thieves at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Dodge City, Kan.

They are planning another CD to be released in the spring but are tight-lipped on the details. They promise a “big announcement” in the near future.

They do acknowledge that they’ve used up the Amelia Earhart theme, and the new album will be a lot different. As Miller puts it, “The Red Hot Chili Peppers don’t just write about Mexican food.”

Their schedule has wound down as Miller has gone back to school, completing her senior year in anthropology at UNCG.

With their performances much rarer for the time being, you should take the opportunity to catch them at Charlotte’s McGlohon Theater this Saturday, Nov. 13 when they open for Steep Canyon Rangers. Door open 7:30 p.m. and the music starts at 8 p.m.

Tickets are from $17.50-$21.50 and are available by calling 704-372-1000 or at www.carolinatix.org.